A medical device is typically configured in preparation for a medical procedure. Medical devices require certain inputs before the medical procedure can be performed. For example, patient data (e.g., name, age, sex, etc.), medical procedure data (e.g. type of the medical procedure, body part, etc.), medical device settings (e.g., power, duration, etc.), confirmation of a user's (such as a medical staff's) preferred settings, service personnel inputs (e.g., calibration and maintenance records, software updates) and other such inputs.
Medical device inputs are typically performed via a user interface such as a keyboard and a mouse and/or file transports through a USB port, Ethernet, a printer, CD, floppy disk, etc. In other words, inputs are manually captured via the interface and originate as recorded entries by the user. The manually captured inputs have the disadvantage of requiring additional manual steps prior to or during the medical procedure, thus requiring additional time and resources to perform. This may result in a possibility for error in inputting the information into the medical device, as well as a concurrent delay in performing the medical procedure caused by manual entry of the data. The flow of the medical procedure is thus disrupted and the efficiency and time-management of the user (such as a surgeon) is reduced.
The user such as a surgeon and/or a medical staff often have specific preferences regarding the operation of a medical device during a given medical procedure particularly when the medical device is providing information related to or part of a medical workflow. User-specific configuration data being configuration data specific to the user can be used to customize the user experience when such data is available. An example of the user specific configuration data includes a particular sequence of GUI screen layouts that each contain a specific subset of information from an otherwise broader set of available information, such as particular sets of instrument tracking display types, that are of particular interest at different medical workflow steps. Another example of the user specific configuration data includes configurably applied rules or parameters for switching the medical workflow steps. The user specific configuration data facilitates customization of the medical device and thereby improves visibility of each particular information subset, reduces screen clutter, and reduces the required system interaction by the user, which is of particular value in the sterile and time-critical medical procedure setting.
Further, there may be multiple users for a single medical device, and therefore differentiation of the users is desired in order to select an appropriate configuration data for each user. Moreover, differentiation of user type is also of interest, as there may be general workflow differences that can be realized for different sets of users. For example, a medical workflow for a service user may be different from a general workflow for a clinical user. In addition, in order to add customizations for new users, and/or to modify data and/or add new data for existing users, the user specific configuration data is to be manually transported into the medical device.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method for configuring a medical device that can provide the user specific configuration data to the medical device to reduce the user's interaction with the medical device thereby facilitating the user to carry out the medical procedure.